Remembering the Wright Street Women’s Commune

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Photo courtesy Jean Small Dean

1973 Milwaukee Women's Rights rally

1973 Milwaukee Women's Rights rally with members of the Wright Street Women's Commune - Jean Small Dean is second row, fourth from left.

Communes, or communal living, peaked in contemporary times during the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. They consisted of nomad hippies rejecting mainstream consumerism to collectives rooted in grassroots social activism. Among the latter was a feminist commune tucked away in an upper flat on East Wright Street, between Weil and Bremen. It had no official name but was referred to as the Wright Street Women’s Commune (WSWC). The WSWC residents fought for women’s rights and offered shelter and support to victims of domestic violence.

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Photo courtesy Jean Small Dean

Jean Small Dean 1973

Jean Small Dean in 1973

Coming from a large family in rural Waukesha County, WSWC co-founder Jean Small Dean was no stranger to sharing living quarters and household resources. She, along with her sister, Maureen Small, also a WSWC co-founder, were emancipated minors. Jean had an iconoclastic streak, often challenging authority while at Pius XI High School.

Jean and Maureen later attended the Independent Learning Center, an alternative high school on Milwaukee’s South Side. While there, Jean worked at Babylon Press printing co-op. “That’s where ideas of collectivism and communalism were instilled in me,” she says.

At the school, Jean and Maureen met Candy Morrison (nee Kelly). The Small sisters, along with Morrison, would go on to live in communes in Milwaukee. Jean and Maureen also traveled to San Francisco to stay at the Kaliflower commune, one of the largest and longest running communes in the U.S.

“They did things that we were doing in Milwaukee,” Jean relates. “They had a print shop and we had a print shop. They had a bakery, they produced yogurt and they had a community theater.”

In early 1972, Jean and Maureen, along with Morrison, decided to form a women’s commune to practice and live ideals of feminist advocacy. “Part of that is sisterhood. One of the tenets is that it was a place where only women could live,” Jean says.

“I lived there during my formative years between the ages of 16 and 19. What stands out for me is the fact that we offered emergency shelter for women fleeing domestic violence. We housed multiple women referred to us by the Milwaukee Women’s Crisis Line,” Maureen says. “To my knowledge, domestic violence at that time was not openly being dealt with by any other organizations and was not in the public conversation.”

Four to eight women lived at the commune during any given time. People stayed there for various reasons, but a common belief was about building an intentional community.

Morrison grew up a military family that lived around the globe and moved to Milwaukee during her teen years. She considers herself an “old rainbow hippie” with a strong interest in human rights. She was always intrigued by the concept of sharing and communal living. She studied herbalism since she was 14 and worked at the former Archangel Herb Shop in Milwaukee.

Lifetime Family

Morrison would often hitchhike out to rural areas to forage herbs. She sometimes missed what was happening back at WSWC, but the bond she formed with other commune members was impactful. “What I remember the most was just the feeling of sisterhood,” she says. “They would become lifetime family.”

Plants were abundant throughout the house. Commune residents hosted potluck dinners to share with other communities. Their dining table was a door propped on blocks and could seat about a dozen people. One of Morrison’s favorite memories was a mother-daughter dinner. “We all sat on the floor around the table, our moms sitting down with us and enjoying a vegetarian meal,” she recalls.

Jean remembers the swinging kitchen door, which occasionally led to mishaps in a houseful of people. “One time while preparing dinner, the door swung open, and a big pot of spaghetti was knocked out of my hands. We were cleaning up spaghetti sauce for a week.”

Several WSWC members volunteered at Kane Street Co-op, which would later become Outpost Natural Foods. They also worked at Fertile Dirt; a natural foods restaurant located in the renowned Sydney Hih building.

“The commune was about practicing life values, and creating community and sisterhood,” Jean says. “We shared meals and an ecofeminism principle of living a healthy, organic lifestyle.”

Advocating for Feminism

In March 1972, the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution designed to guarantee equal legal rights for all American citizens regardless of sex, was passed by congress. “The ERA was our mantra,” says Jean. Commune members attended rallies to help advance the ERA. Most states have since ratified the ERA (Wisconsin ratified the ERA in April 1972) but to date, 12 states still have not. (For more information about the ERA, see equalrightsamendment.org).

Several WSWC members volunteered with a crisis hotline that supported victims of domestic violence. Commune residents worked with the Milwaukee Police Department (MPD) to offer shelter to women fleeing dangerous domestic or human trafficking situations.

Jean is a poet and wrote for the Amazon Journal feminist publication. In 1974, she had the opportunity to interview Harold Breier, MPD police chief from 1964 to 1984, for a college paper about changing laws around domestic violence. “At one time, it was legal for a husband to beat his wife,” Jean reminds us.

Wright Street Women’s Commune members participated in Take Back the Night marches, which create awareness about domestic abuse. Some commune residents advocated for the Sojourner Truth House, (now Sojourner Family Peace Center), a resource for domestic violence prevention.

Moving On

By the mid-‘70s, commune members wanted to explore, grow and move on. “Like everything else, there were disagreements. People began to wonder what we were going to do with our lives,” Jean says. “Some of us had other ambitions and wanted to travel.”

Jean continues to write feminist poetry. “We had courage, the light was bright and we were exploring a better together mindset,” she recalls. “In my own experience, I advocated for celebrating traditional gender roles as being an act of power. I saw feminism as nurturing and teaching, about childcare and domestic engineering. I didn’t advocate as a feminist to create a kickboxing Barbie.”

Jean points out how ‘70s activism gave way to the Ronald Reagan-era of conservatism during the ‘80s. “Women like Phyllis Schlafly were rising in power due to our women’s activism while denying women’s rights at the same time.”

She cites a quote from women’s rights activist Alice Paul: “I always feel the movement is a sort of mosaic. Each of us puts in one little stone, and then you get a great mosaic at the end.” While the commune has come and gone, each member put in their own little stone.

Other co-founders of the Wright Street Women’s Commune were unavailable or declined to be interviewed.